Progressive Animal Welfare Society v. University of Washington

At issue is whether information in a university researcher’s unfunded grant proposal involving use of animals in scientific research must be disclosed under the laws governing disclosure of public records. The trial court held that with excision of certain exempt information contained in the proposal, the proposal is subject to disclosure. We affirm in part and reverse in part. We affirm the trial court’s decision that the proposal is not exempt from disclosure in its entirety and hold that the exempt material was properly excised. However, because a genuine issue of fact exists as to whether…